Talking Points from Heartbreaking Hobart Final

Below are several talking points from a devastating loss to the competition’s benchmark team in WBBL|11.

Plenty to gain from gruelling finish
Four games, three wins, three finals in three different states and almost 4500km travelled, all crammed into the space of a week. Although they fell short against a deserving champion in the Hurricanes, Becky Grundy’s players can take ample pride from the way they handled a brutal finish to the year. The Scorchers won six of their last eight games, including three do-or-die wins – against Brisbane Heat to qualify, before overcoming Melbourne Stars (The Knockout) and Sydney Sixers (The Challenger). The latter was the Club’s first interstate WBBL finals win, and the two losses both came against Hobart at Ninja Stadium. The disappointment of tonight will doubtless linger, but the Scorchers now have a proven blueprint to build upon leading into WBBL|12.

Just for good measure …
Beth Mooney continued her extraordinary campaign of milestones, becoming the first Perth Scorchers player to hit 3,000 Big Bash runs. Perhaps more remarkable is the fact she got there in just 80 games with an average of 47.25, passing 50 on 25 occasions (22 half-centuries, three centuries) in 79 innings. Mooney again looked on song tonight during her fluent 33-run knock before falling to Heather Graham, finishing WBBL|11 as the competition’s highest run-scorer with 549 runs from 13 knocks.

Skipper in rare company
Sophie Devine, meanwhile, reached a landmark of her own, becoming the third Scorcher to score 2,000 Big Bash runs after Mooney (3,024) and men’s captain Ashton Turner (2,277). Fittingly, she got there with an enormous slog sweep six over mid-wicket from the bowling of WBBL|07 championship teammate Graham – a trademark shot, seen regularly throughout her outstanding career.

Invaluable experience
Tonight’s devastating loss may well prove the making of the Scorchers’ exciting young core. Five of the squad’s starting side are yet to turn 25 – Maddy Darke (24), Lilly Mills (24), Ruby Strange (23), English international Freya Kemp (20) and Chloe Ainsworth (20) – and all played important roles in getting their team to the last match of the season. Before Tuesday, Strange and Kemp had never played in a WBBL final, while Ainsworth and Darke had featured in one each, the WBBL|08 Eliminator against Brisbane Heat. The big-game experience they’ve embraced this season is impossible to replicate, highlighting exactly what is required to reach the competition’s pinnacle.

Leading the way
Credit goes to Hobart Hurricanes powerhouse Lizelle Lee, who batted flawlessly to break the game open for the hosts with 77 not out from 44 deliveries including 10 fours and four sixes. Lee’s raw power – against all bowlers, at all stages of the match – proved insurmountable, earning Player of the Final honours, as well as Hobart’s maiden WBBL championship.

Perth Scorchers’ squad for Weber WBBL|11: Sophie Devine (C – New Zealand), Chloe Ainsworth, Maddy Darke, Amy Edgar, Mikayla Hinkley, Ebony Hoskin, Freya Kemp (England), Alana King, Katie Mack, Shay Manolini, Lilly Mills, Beth Mooney, Chloe Piparo, Paige Scholfield (England), Ruby Strange.